Tui to come in from the cold and court independent agents again

Commercial and business development director Richard Sofer told TTG he wanted to see more mainstream Tui sales go through third parties, following the lead of Marella Cruises, which has a higher share of sales through independent agents.

A number of independents were among more than 600 travel agents who joined the christening of Marella Voyager in Malaga this week.

Speaking to TTG onboard Voyager, Sofer said: “We recognise that if we don’t work with independent agencies we’re missing out on part of the market – and to be honest - part of the market that our competitors are working with. From a business point of view, it makes sense, from a relationship point of view it makes sense, from the customer point of view it makes sense.

“Now that we’re back in growth mode – with 1.1 million seats next summer and the additional capacity we’ve put into winter - it’s time to redress that balance. That’s something we’ve been talking about internally for 12 months and you’ve seen that from some of the conversations we’ve been having. We do expect to see a greater proportion of the additional seats being sold by independent travel agents, and that will start to shift the dial.”